Was there polygamy in Arabia before Islam?

Answer 1

Yes, there was polygamy in Arabia before Islam in the sense that a man can have unlimited number of wives. However, polygamy dates back to a long time ago, since this has been practiced for many centuries by cultures from all over the world. . Polygamy is the natural rule since start of mankind. Even prophets were married with more than one wife up to tens and hundreds. Only Jesus is believed that he was not married. There was no limit on the number of wives to be married by one man. However, in Islam, the number of wives allowed by a Muslim man to marry is limited to four. Polygamy in Islam is also subject to strict rules that makes it not easy and not usual to marry with more than one wife.

The Hebrew society has partially accepted polygamy and there are traces that say that it happened in the classical China too. The polygamy was also encountered sporadically at the Native Americans, in the West African continent, Polynesia, India and the ancient Greece.

The polygamy was widely accepted throughout the world until the Roman Empire and the Roman Catholic Church has imposed the rules of having just one wife, but multiple other lovers were the norm. The polygamy was widely accepted during the last two thousands of years in the Sub-Saharan Africa also.

However in the Hebrew Bible, the polygamy was permitted only if a man has more than one wife, at the same time if a woman had more than one husband, it was seen as adultery. In the United States the polygamy was allowed back at the early years of the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (which was also known as LDS Church). However all this ended back in the year 1890 when Wilford Woodruff was the president. But officially it was the year 1899 when the members of this church began to be thrown out for being polygamous. This way there were a few different and new sects that separated from the LDS Church that continue to practice the polygamy even if the polygamous marriages have started to be an illegal practice in the United States.

Islam limited the number of wives that allowed for a man to marry to four wives but subject to strict conditions. This is not usual for a Muslim man to marry with more than wife due to these strict conditions. Refer to related questions below.